Man charged with shooting at police, other motorists

By Emiley Morgan , Deseret News

Published: Sunday, Aug. 2 2015 1:04 p.m. MDT

Marco Antonio Guizar, 37, was charged Thursday with attempted aggravated murder, three counts of aggravated assault and other charges after police say he fired at a motorist on the freeway and later fired at officers in Farmington. (, Davis County Jail)

FARMINGTON — Charges were filed Thursday against a man accused of shooting at police officers and at a motorist on Legacy Parkway Wednesday night.

The same man is also being investigated in a similar shooting on I-215 Tuesday.

Marco Antonio Guizar, 37, was charged with attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, three counts of aggravated assault, a second-degree felony, and other charges.

Guizar admitted to shooting at the vehicle on Legacy Parkway "as well as on prior occasions in Salt Lake County," according to charges filed in 2nd District Court.

Guizar allegedly fired at a moving pickup truck Wednesday while heading north on Legacy Parkway. Officers began following Guizar when he exited the highway in Farmington and tried to initiate a traffic stop, but Guizar did not pull over, the charges state.

He evaded police for another five minutes before he crashed into a vehicle with two teenagers inside near 650 West and State Street, police said. Guizar then allegedly fired "at least two rounds" at a Farmington police officer.

"The defendant would not surrender," the charging documents state. "Officers returned fire. The defendant admitted to knowing that the individual he fired at was a police officer attempting to stop him."

No one was hit in the shootout. Guizar sustained superficial injuries but not from any gunfire.

The man resisted arrest, but once in custody, told police that he had recently used methamphetamine and cocaine, according to the charges. The man said he knew he was considered a restricted person who can't legally possess a firearm, but police say a Glock .40-caliber weapon was recovered from his car.

Guizar was driving a blue Toyota with Texas plates. Farmington Police Chief Wayne Hansen said Guizar may also be the driver who was involved in a similar shooting incident about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday on I-215. In that case, a gunman driving a Camry with Texas license plates opened fire on a white pickup truck.

"As far as his motives, if he's targeting vehicles, we don't have anything on that," Hansen said Wednesday. "It's a very frightening thing. We're glad he's in custody and everybody is safe."

The chief said Guizar has ties to addresses in both Layton and Taylorsville, but it was unclear where he was living at the time of the shooting.

The Utah Highway Patrol is still investigating the I-215 incident, UHP Cpl. Todd Johnson said, but noted there are similarities between the two cases.

Emily Packer Koons said she was driving her four nephews on 650 West toward State Street in Farmington when a car sped up from behind them and zoomed past.

"We thought, 'Man, this person is in a hurry. Maybe were going a little got slow for him,'" Koons said. "We noticed there was a police car behind him, so I pulled over to the right."

What happened next went very quickly, with two other police cars responding and getting in front of the suspect vehicle. The suspect vehicle ran through a stop sign and hit a few cars, Koon said.

"We heard, immediately, just gunfire," she recalled. "I quickly backed up to avoid the gunfire, not knowing the distance of how far it can go."

She didn't know what had happened until police later came and talked to them. She said it concerned her to learn this man had allegedly shot at other motorists.

"Having been kind of trapped between the police officers and him in this high speed chase, I'm glad we weren't one of those random cars that was shot at," Koon said.

In addition to the attempted murder and aggravated assault charges, Guizar was also charged with failure to respond to an officer's signal to stop, a third-degree felony, and misdemeanor charges of possession of a dangerous weapon with intent to assault and interfering with an arresting officer.